Seed and fertilizer products are distributed from a hopper of an air seeder to a delivery tool via a pneumatic conveyor tube. A certain known conveyor tube connects with a flow dividing header. The dividing header includes a manifold having a series of outlet ports configured to direct the air-entrained product into a number of conduits, each connected to a delivery tool (e.g., a seed boot, etc.).
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,770 entitled “Conveyor tube and Distributor Header for Air Conveyor”, filed Feb. 4, 1999, hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a conveyor tube in combination with a distribution header for air conveyors such as air seeders. The distribution header includes angularly spaced apart and radially-outward extending outlet ports configured to direct divided portions of an incoming flow of air-entrained material. A hose clamp device connects each of these outlet ports to a flexible hose that leads to a respective delivery tool.
However, the air distribution system described above has several drawbacks. For example, the known hose clamp device is configured to squeeze an exterior of the outlet port. This causes the interior of the outlet port to squeeze against the exterior of the flexible hose. Also, miscellaneous forces associated with operation of the air distribution system in the field (e.g., vibration) are known to cause the hose clamps to slip off the outlet port, as well as cause the flexible hoses to slip out of the outlet port, during operation. To accommodate these miscellaneous forces, extensions are provided at the exterior of the outlet ports to restrain the hose clamp from slipping off of the outlet port. However, the extensions are not operable to restrain a position of the flexible hose in the outlet port until the hose clamp is sufficiently tightened, which is cumbersome for an operator.
Therefore, there is a need or desire for a hose restraint device to configured to enhance restraint of the flexible hose at the outlet port of the distribution header of a pneumatic distribution system. The restraint device should also be configured to be compatible with known constructions of distribution headers associated with pneumatic distribution systems.